Benefit detectives offer pensioners a lifeline

By NEIL DOWNING Journal Staff Writer

Tuesday

Jun 14, 2011 at 12:01 AM

BELLINGHAM, Mass. - When her husband died in January, at age 63, Roseline Desjardins was left wondering how she would pay for the upkeep on her home.There was no mortgage; the house was paid for. But there were other expenses, such as property taxes,

BELLINGHAM, Mass. - When her husband died in January, at age 63,Roseline Desjardins was left wondering how she would pay for theupkeep on her home.There was no mortgage; the house was paid for.But there were other expenses, such as property taxes, home heatingoil and electricity."I had no clue he was going to die so young,"Desjardins said. And she quickly had to face the future. There wasno life insurance, no stock portfolio. A pension? Maybe from hisold job, but he had long since left that company, and the couplehad lost track; it had all been so long ago.They were married in1969. They raised a family in Woonsocket. Both had worked, and bothhad felt the sting of corporate downsizing.Richard "Rick"Desjardins started in the late 1960s as a drafter for theProvidence branch of industrial giant ITT Grinnell Corp. Over theyears, he moved up through the ranks, eventually working onspecifications for the nuclear power industry, she said.That endedin 1985, when the company's new owner, Tyco, downsized the businessand laid him off, she said. He did some other work after that,including consulting.She worked for 17 years at A.T. Cross inLincoln, mostly as a silk-screen operator. She lost her job in around of downsizing. She then learned to work with computersthrough a government program for retraining workers.She went towork as an intern at the Woonsocket headquarters of CVS Caremark,the national pharmacy health-care provider, then was hiredfull-time. She currently works in the company's logisticsdepartment.After their children had grown, the couple moved toBellingham. He stopped working at age 62, and died in January 2010after a lingering illness - leaving his wife and their twochildren, Danielle Braley of North Smithfield and ChristopherDesjardins of Burrillville.Besides having to cope with the loss ofher husband, there were financial realities to consider. She wasleft with only one source of income - from her job - to coverliving expenses, she said.In time, she met with a financial adviserthrough a free program run by the local council on aging. She toldthe adviser about a discussion she and her husband had had yearsback about the possibility of a pension. The adviser recommendedshe call the New England Pension Assistance Project.That group,based at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, helps NewEnglanders who have trouble understanding or obtaining theirpension benefits."I was very skeptical," she said. "What do I haveto pay for this?"Nothing, it turns out. The group operates mainlyon funds from the U.S. Administration on Aging. It began collectinginformation shortly after she called in March.About all she couldprovide them was her late husband's Form W-2 wage statement fromITT Grinnell for 1979.It was enough to start with. The group stillhad to dig through a complex corporate history, said JeanneMedeiros, the group's managing attorney.It was left to volunteerMollie Feeney, 80, a retired administrative assistant, to sortthrough a five-page list of corporate contact names - acrossmultiple states - for Grinnell.Eventually, she hit pay dirt:Through one of those Grinnell corporate contacts, in Illinois,Desjardins learned that her husband's pension plan had beenterminated and the benefits converted into annuities issued by alife insurance company in Indiana, Medeiros said. "How in the worldwould anyone ever have found this?" Medeiros said.Mrs. Desjardinsreceived the call from Feeney in October."She let me know that theyhad found his pension and that I was eligible for a small part ofit," Mrs. Desjardins recalled. "I said, 'You've got to be kiddingme!' I had to pinch myself a few times." But she was "very, verygrateful" for the work the group did, she said. Without it, sheprobably could not have traced the missing pension.And pensions,though not as common as they once were, are valuable, said AngelaM. Thomson, program director for the Financial Planning Associationof Rhode Island, a trade group for financial planners.A pensionrepresents "dollars put aside by your employer for your behalf,"said Thomson, a Certified Financial Planner practitioner who runsCoastal Financial Planning in Lincoln. "From a consumer'sstandpoint, they are a great opportunity to offset retirementcosts," she said.From the pension that her husband had earned, Mrs.Desjardins last month began receiving a survivor benefit of $146.81a month. It will not make her rich, but it is a steady source ofmonthly income. "That'll take care of my oil bill," or a good partof it, each month, she said.She also received retroactive benefitsin a lump sum of about $1,300 (after tax was withheld). She has notsaid exactly what she'll do with it. But she has an idea. She turns63 on Thursday. Christmas is on Saturday. And she has two childrenand several grandchildren."Christmas is coming," she said with asmile. "I'm going to blow it on them. And then next year? Well,that's a different story."KEY POINTSPension sleuthsThe New EnglandPension Assistance Project offers free help to people in all sixNew England states who have trouble understanding or obtainingtheir pension benefits.Launched in 1994, the group operates mainlyon funds from the U.S. Administration on Aging. It traces missingpensions and offers other help.The group has recovered more than$37 million for more than 5,400 clients. It handles about 350 casesa year involving employer-sponsored retirement plans, such aspensions and 401(k) plans.To reach the group, call toll-free at1-888-425-6067, or write: New England Pension Assistance Project,Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125.ndowning@projo.com / 277-7640

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